Opener for jars and bottles



Sept. 13, 1932'. v NATHAN v 1,877,019

OPENER FOR JARS- AND BOTTLES 1 Filed A ril .14, 1950 @azw%@w Patented Sept. 13, 1932 UNITED STATES enonen NATHAN, or narrate, NEW YORK OPENER FOR JARS AND BOTTLES Application filed April 14,

This invention relates to a'kitchen utensil I or implement primarily designed for facilitating the opening of fruit mm and the removal of crimped caps from bottles and jars,

the same being in the nature of a combination implement.

In home canning, the ar tops arebrought down firmly upon a rubber gasket or ring -so as to seal the contents from the-atmosphere, and when it is desired togopen the canned goods it is necessary to break the air seal in facilitating the removal of the jar top. Other types of jars, and especially bottles, are provided with caps which are crimped tightly thereon beneath a head on the container and whose removal necessitates the application of a force suflicient to partially decrimp and lift such cap from off the bead.

Various implements have been designed to facilitate the removal of such tops or caps, some of which embody pivotally connected parts while others, although answering the purpose for which they are designed, entail prohibitive production costs.

. The present invention has for its primary object to provide a simply and durably constructed implement of economical design by which the removal of a jar top is greatly fa- .30 ci'litated. Further the invention resides in a compound implement, combining a jar opener with a bottle opener in an integral or unitary structure referably formed from a single piece of stoc material.

Further the invention resides in the salient features of construction hereinafter described in detail and succintly defined in the appended claim, reference being bad to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the improved implement.

Fig. 2 is an elevation thereof illustrating the application of the implement to a'jar.

Fig. 3 is a view disclosing the application of the implement to a bottle.

Referring more in detail to the accompanying drawing, the implement comprises a body carrying on one en a depending leg 1 with an inwardly directed toe 2. .The free 50 end of this toe. is inclined upwardly toward downwar 1930. Serial No. 444,213.

the leg l to form a wedging face 3' and a sharpened edge or penetrating point 4 whereby, upon seating the toe on the protruding flange of the rubber gasket 5 with the edge 4.introduced beneath the top 6, and forcing the toe inwardly, the wedging face 3 will tend to lift the latter from the gasket while the penetrating point 4 will enter beneath Y the cap to break the air seal provided by sai'd gasket. The jarxhercin depicted is of that type in which the top is clamped on by a bail that is drawn downwardly by an eccentric handle movement, so well known to the home canner.

To compel the entering of thewedge and penetrating point beneath the topjor cover there is provided, at a point substantially diametrically opposite, a face 7 designed for camming downwardly on the cover 6 and concurrently drawing t e toe inwardly. This camming face 7 is formed on a shoulder 8 which is connected by a reach portion 9 to the leg or end portion 1, the reach or bridge portion 9 overlying the cover 6 as clearly shown in the drawing.

A handle 10 is extended from the shoulder 8 and away from the reach portion 9, while the camming face 7 is inclined from the handle 10 toward the reach portion 9 so that by grasping the handle with one handand engaging the toe at the remote side of the jar beneath the cover 6, and then pressing dly. on the shoulder 8,,the air sea will be broken by the penetrating point 4 and the wed 'ng face-3 will cause the cover to cant'or tilt upwardly, aided by a slight down pressure upon the handle 10 and at the same time using the shoulder engaged portion of the top as a point of fulcrum. Thus the shoulder face 7 may be considered as a shiftable fulcrum which comes into play as soon as the air seal is broken.

- For decapping bottles and jars which have their tops crimped on the free portion of the handle 10 is formed with a toe or hook 11, 05 the hook being s'lightl spaced 'fromthe handle by, what might e termed, a shorter leg 12. When the implement is used for this purpose the hook 11 is engaged beneath the crimped flange 13 of the cap,

as indicated in Fig. 3, with the handle 10 overlying the cap and serving in this instance as a reach, and

with the reach portion 9 constituting a handle. Downward pressure upon the reachforming handle 9 will thereupon cause the hook or toe 11 to lift upwardly on the flange 13, thereby disrupting the engagement of the cap on the bottle. The hook portion 11 is preferably of a width to engage two or more crimpings of the flange 13 so as to avoid tearing into the flange while at the same time I provide for a more efiective engagement between the hook and the cap. To insure this engagement the free edge of the hook is given a transverse concavity to more nearly conform to the curvature of the bottle. I

Thus the implement is formed with a toe on each end and an adjacent reach portion, serving as a manipulating handle for the remote toe, the two reach portions being united by a face which opposes one toe and coacts therewith in effecting the introduction of the toe'beneath the jar cover. The entire implement may be constructed of a single piece of stock material and embodies no other parts which require any special manufacturing operations or handling in the production of the implement. It is therefore obvious that the implement may expeditiously and economically be manufactured and will possess that degree-of durability and utility so much desired in an article of this nature.

The device may be shaped from strap-like stock or stamped from sheet material. Each .reach portion 9, 10, serves as a handle when the remote toe is being used and is well defined by the camming shoulder which ofl'sets one from the other.

What is claimed is: 7 An implement for removing glass tops from jars wherein the top is seated on a rubber gasket andmay be lifted from thejar upon breaking the air seal, comprising a one-plece body of elongated design having a penetrating toe extended beneath a reach portion, the latter being oflset to form a handle and a connecting shoulder, said shoulder opposing the toe and formed with a camming face opposing the toe for engaging the jar cover .at the opposite side thereof from the toe for drawing the toe inwardly beneath the cover upon exerting a downward pressure on the handle and shoulder.

GEORGE NATHAN. 

